Trowel



April 30, 1935.. J, B, C E 1,999,367

TROWEL Filed July 29, 1952 INVENTOR JAMES BJWCCOEKLE.

' A'IDTORNEY Patented Apr. 30, 1935 TROWEL James B. McCorkle, Atlanta,Ga.,

United States Gypsum a corporation of Illinois assignor to Company,Chicago, 111.,

Application July 29, 1932, Serial No. 626,080

13 Claims.

This invention relates to trowels or smoothing tools for use inpreparing walls of buildings and has reference more particularly to atrowel suitable for applying reinforcing tape over the joints 1 ofwallboard.

It is customary to form walls of buildings from wall boards of gypsumcomposition, fiber, etc., with the boards nailed in place to woodenstuds. In order to cover up the joints between boards and preventcracking of plastic paint or other decorative coatings subsequentlyapplied to the wall, a cementitious plastic material is applied to thejoint, together with a perforated metal foil, and the plastic materialis then smoothed 1 down to produce a smooth wall surface to which can beapplied plastic paint or other desired decorative materials such aswallpaper. Some difliculty has beenexperienced in causing the tape tolie perfectly flat on the wall and molding the plastic material in sucha way that a perfectly smooth joint is obtained.

An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a smoothing trowelwhich is simple in construction and which can be used for smoothing outreinforcing tape and plastic material over the joints of wallboard; alsoto improve trowels and smoothing devices in other respects hereinafterspecified and claimed.

Reference is to be had to drawing forming a which Fig. 1 is an elevationof a wall construction including my improved smoothing trowel.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the smoothing trowel,

Fig. 3 is a rear end elevation of the trowel, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the wall showing an end view of thesmoothing trowel, taken on line 4 l of Fig. 1.

The improved smoothing tool comprises a metal plate ill having aslightly arcuate, broad troweling edge It along its forward end. Ahandle I2 is provided with an axially extending bolt it which is securedby a nut Hi to an annular section it formed on the upper end of a handlebracket E6. The lower end of the bracket I6 is provided withoutstanding, laterally extending arms H which extend substantiallyparallel with the troweling edge H, and rearwardly and angularlyextending arm I 8 which extends centrally along the trowel plate Ill.The arms H and !8 are secured to the trowel plate It in any suitableway, such as by rivets l9, and serve to form edge H into arcuate shapeas well as to permit substantial pressure to be applied to the tool.Rivets the accompanying part of this specification, in

I9, it should be noted, tially spaced from the e shims may be insertedare preferably substannds of arms [9 whereby thereunder to vary thecurvature of troweling edge H. The rearward end of the trowel plate Itis preferably inclined 5 to the plane of the plate NJ to form a platesection 29 which is prefer ably narrower in width than the trowelingedge l l. Downwardly extending flanges 2i are formed on each edge of theplate section 25!, said flanges preferably being inclined at an angleless than 99 degrees to a wallboard face 22 which isbeing troweled. The

flanges 2! are preferably also inclined somewhat to the major axis of thtrowel is moved along e trowel, so that as the a perforated metal foiltape 23, said flanges tend to move plastic mate rial 24, which haspreviously been applied to the board joints, toward the to be acted uponand troweling edge ll.

major axis of the trowel smoothed down by the The forward end of theflanges 2! forms a feeding throat for the plastic material so as toalways supply a uniform quantity of the material to the troweling edge II, and provide a joint coating slightly arcuate in cross section andtapering to feather edges about 5" apart. The plastic material 24 isforced into the board joints between adjacent wallboards 22 prior to theapplication trowel Ill, said plastic of the tape 23 and the materialextending inwardly into the board joints as far as to a stud 26, towhich the boards nails 21.

I would state in conclu trated example constitu ment of my invention,myself precisely to these 22 are attached, as by sion that while theillustes a practical embodi- I do not wish to limit details, sincemanifestly,

the same may be considerably varied without departing from the spirit ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described new and desire to secure my invention, I claim asby Letters Patent 1. A smoothing tool comprising a trowel plate havingan inclined troweling edge, guide flanges extending from said plate andarranged to engage a surface being troweled so as to fix the angle ofinclination of said trowel plate relative to said surface, and a handles manual actuation.

ecured to said plate for angle to the direction of movement of saidplate,

said flanges being adapted to trowel plastic material on a surfaceinwardl troweling edge.

y to be smoothed by said 3. A smoothing tool comprising a trowel platehaving a broad, troweling edge arranged to extend beyond the edges of ametal tape applied to a board joint, a handle attached to said plate formanual actuation of said tool along said tape so as to smooth outplastic material over said tape, and means associated with said platefor troweling said plastic material inwardly to be acted upon by saidtroweling edge.

4. A smoothing tool comprising a troweling member having a transverselyarcuate troweling edge, means extending from said member to engage asurface being troweled so as to define the angle of inclination of saidmember relative to said surface, and handle means for manual actuationof said member.

5. A trowel comprising a plate having a broad, transverse trowelingedge, a following section on said plate having a substantially narrowerwidth than said troweling edge, outstanding with flanges on saidfollowing section, said flanges contacting the surface being troweled,and a handle secured to said trowel.

6. A smoothing tool comprising a trowel plate having an inclined,arcuate-shaped, troweling edge, means for supplying a uniform quantityof plastic material to said troweling edge so that said edge forms acoating of plastic material over a board joint tape, the finishedplastic material being slightly arcuate in cross section and havingfeathered edges, and a handle on said trowel plate for manual actuationof said trowel.

7. A smoothing tool comprising a trowel plate having an inclinedtroweling edge, guide flanges extending from said plate and arranged toen gage a surface being troweled so as to form a feeding throat at theforward ends of said flanges for supplying a uniform quantity ofmaterial to said troweling edge, and a handle associated with said platefor manual actuation of said trowel.

8. A smoothing tool comprising a substantially transversely arcuatetroweling member, means on said member spaced substantially back fromthe forward edge of said member and adapted to engage a surface overwhich said tool is applied,

said means defining the angle of inclination of said member relative tosaid surface, and means for manual actuation of said tool.

9. A trowel for applying a uniform coating strip of plastic material toa flat surface, which comprises a broad, inclined troweling memberhaving an arcuate troweling edge, means on said member spaced from saidedge for defining the inclination of said member relative to saidsurface, and means adjacent said troweling edge for manual actuation ofsaid trowel.

10. A trowel for applying plastic material in a feathered strip to asurface, which comprises a substantially arcuate troweling member, apair of coextensive arms attached adjacent the troweling edge, said edgebeing slightly arcuate, said arms maintaining said edge in arcuateshape, and a handle for manually actuating said trowel.

11. A trowel for applying plastic material in a feathered strip to asurface, which comprises a slightly. arcuate troweling member, thetroweling edge of said member being slightly arcuate transversely, apair of coextensive arms attached to said member adjacent said arcuateedge and adapted to maintain said edge in arcuate shape, a handle, andmeans on said member to engage said surface-so as to regulate the angleof inclination of said member relative to said surface.

12. A tool adapted for applying a feather-edge strip of plastic materialto a substantially arcuate surface and having a transversely arcuatetroweling edge, and means secured adjacent said troweling edge insubstantially parallel relation therewith for maintaining the arcuateform of the edge when pressure is applied with the trowel against saidsurface. 7

13. A tool for applying a feathered strip of plastic material to asurface, which comprises a a slightly arcuate troweling member having atransversely arcuate troweling edge, means secured adjacent saidtroweling edge to retain said edge in substantially arcuate shape whenpressure is applied to said edge, and means also adjacent said edge formanually actuating said trowel.

JAMES B. MCCORKLE.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 1,999,367. April 30, 1935.

JAMES B. MeCORKLE.

it is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2,first column, line 20, claim 5, strike out the word "with" and insertthe same before "the" in line 22, of said claim; and that the saidLetters Patent should he read with this correction therein that the samemay conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of July, A. D. 1935.

Bryan M, Battery (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

